Cat Safety?

We adopted a cat. Of course, I know how to keep the cat out of the bird room and put him in the bedroom when the birds are out, which is the current plan. I am just wondering exactly how those of you who have both cats and birds deal specifically with the issues? I have lived with both before, but I was living with my parents and it was a totally different situation. I doubt I will learn anything earth shattering, just wondered if anyone had anything to offer that I might not have thought of.

Thanks!

I think it very much depends on the individual animals. I have the advantage of an elderly cat with a previous track record of sprinting back into the house and disappearing under the bed if one of the local magpies so much as gave her a funny look, and a bird who generally errs on the side of caution when it comes to threatening situations.

Nowadays they're very relaxed around each other and I don't take any precautions unless they're physically within reach: then I always have a hand between them, and that's all it takes. The bird hates the cat's tail, that's the only point of contention: the cat has a really annoying habit of climbing onto my lap and just standing there flicking her tail, where it's likely to get bitten if the bird's already on my shoulder. Even then the cat just gives her a dirty look and stalks off the the opposite end of the couch.

It's a little unusual though to have a cat with very low prey drive, and with pretty limited mobility due to old age - I don't know if I'd have another one unless I knew the cat's personality before bringing it home.

As the girls left for school, the cats slowly became outdoor cats or the girls re-homed them.....I got tired of the fleas that never seemed to become controllable and although someone adopted a rat terrier mix, that someone is good about flea baths, flea ointments, dusting with 5% Sevin dust & regular vacuuming, as long as I keep bird poop cleaned up and keep her suitably supplied with bird shirts.....so far all have been workable solutions, though the cats would probably argue that point, especially since their 24 hour munchies ended when the girls moved to campus & off campus housing.....

I keep a watchful eye on my three cats and any birdies I may have. However, one cat runs away when the birds were ever out.
One climbs up on my lap and could care less about any BIG bird and the other cat just sits and stares.
Today I have a new bird and I'm at work. Scared to death that I may go home and have a cat with a bit of its tail bitten off.

Cats, dogs and/or other prey animals that sit & stare at your bird(s) can stress the bird(s) out and some view the allowing of it as a form of abuse.....

I have 3 cats (and 4 dogs). My cats are all older and do not pay any attention at all to my fids. Two of the three were here when I had my budgies and cockatiels ten years ago and the youngest cat I have (6 1/2 years) is a lazy one...lol. Of course, I never let my birds out when I'm not in the room and would not trust my dogs/cats (mostly my one dog) unsupervised. I think it depends on the animal's personality and with dogs alot depends on training.

weco said:

Cats, dogs and/or other prey animals that sit & stare at your bird(s) can stress the bird(s) out and some view the allowing of it as a form of abuse.....

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Need to clarify...the cat doesn't stare at the bird...he just lays on the floor and stares at me. But I will have to watch more carefully to make sure they aren't stressing the bird.

Once the cats check out the new cage and the bird they usually just go about their business.

Thought I would add a couple pictures of a very typical morning napping situation at my house. Sassy (Lilac Point Siamese/Tabby) and Simon (Maine Coon/Tabby) curl up and clean each other and/or nap under the cage while Zilla preens/naps/eats or whatever inside her cage.

Zilla doesn't seem too interested in them and they aren't really interested in her. Of course they are never allowed to be in the room when Zilla is out of her cage, but they tend to want to nap in the bedroom from mid afternoon until late evening after Zilla goes "nite nite", so that hasn't been a problem.

Thanks everyone! The cat is really a kitten, 3 months old, and very mellow for his age. He has now entered the bird room twice, and sprinted right back out as soon as someone flapped!

I'm so glad to see this thread -- I was just about to ask the same thing! I have a very mellow Ragdoll (front declawed) and am seriously considering adopting a Pinous. My friend who has a bird says it can't work. I say it can, but I'm nervous about it. Any tips about introducing them, or stories (either good or bad) about cat-bird interactions would be appreciated!

LadyJemima said:

I'm so glad to see this thread -- I was just about to ask the same thing! I have a very mellow Ragdoll (front declawed) and am seriously considering adopting a Pinous. My friend who has a bird says it can't work. I say it can, but I'm nervous about it. Any tips about introducing them, or stories (either good or bad) about cat-bird interactions would be appreciated!

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It's a difficult one to predict without trying them to see how they respond. The worst case scenario is you have to keep them seperate, i.e. when the bird is out the cat has to be out if the room, and if the cat persecutes the bird at all, as mentioned with the staring comments above, no cat in the bird room. But it may well not come to that. A couple of questions:

Is this an indoor cat? If he/she has been out of doors does he/she hunt or chase wild birds? My cat is very cautious out of doors and her only bird experience had been wood pigeons and magpies, which make her nervous rather than exited which was a very good sign, where as with a cat that leaves dead birds and mice on the doorstep I wouldn't fancy your chances of them being able to share the same space.

What are your cat's energy levels? A cat that is curled up asleep on the couch is probably safe enough around a bird - one that is constantly up for games or activity is less likely to be ok. Some cats only have a small appetite for games, in which case you can easily get them tired out / bored and wanting to nap ready for you to take the bird out.

The key early on is watching their behaviour and not taking chances with them whilst you're learning how they're going to respond to each other. Caution is definitely the way to go however well they appear to get on. Mine do fine together, regularly coming within a foot of each other - I often find myself watching tv with a cat asleep on my lap and the bird preening herself on my knee, and as long as I have an eye on them and a hand out to intervene if one decides to approach the other it doesn't worry me.

I think there is a strong argument for introducing them to each other - not up close but to let the bird know the cat is one of your flock and he/she need not be too concerned, and so the cat doesn't see the bird as some kind of hidden delight that you don't want to share with him/her. All I did to those ends was get into the habit of talking to one whilst you're petting the other, but I think it did play a part in keeping both pets part of the family.

Is this an indoor cat? If he/she has been out of doors does he/she hunt or chase wild birds? My cat is very cautious out of doors and her only bird experience had been wood pigeons and magpies, which make her nervous rather than exited which was a very good sign, where as with a cat that leaves dead birds and mice on the doorstep I wouldn't fancy your chances of them being able to share the same space.

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Indoor only. Has never shown much interest in outside prey, except a little bit with the squirrels that come right up to the door (stupid squirrels!) We have bird feeders right outside the window and she rarely if ever "chirps" at them.

What are your cat's energy levels? A cat that is curled up asleep on the couch is probably safe enough around a bird - one that is constantly up for games or activity is less likely to be ok. Some cats only have a small appetite for games, in which case you can easily get them tired out / bored and wanting to nap ready for you to take the bird out.

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Extremely laid back, mellow. Sleeps most of the day. Doesn't like to play much at all, and has never had toys with feathers. One of the most relaxed kitties I've ever had. She's almost 8 years old. I think of her more of a person than a cat!

I'm highly experienced with cats (7+ years of shelter work) and can read their body language like a book. I actually think if/when I get a bird, my cat will have a lot more trouble adjusting than the bird will. I don't want either of them to be "unhappy," which is why I'm not rushing into adoption. Ideally, I would like to do a "foster-to-adopt" type situation where I can see how things go.

We have had our cat for about a week now and are still being extremely cautious, but we have some things that help. First, we have high perches, and the majority of our birds are fully flighted. This makes it so no bird gets stranded on the floor as prey. We started right away not allowing the kitten to try to get our food. When he comes too close, we thump him on the nose, not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to be annoying, and he runs away. He attempted to approach Mel today,NAND we did the same thing. Now, Mel is a Blue HEaded PIonus, so she is big enough not to be super easy prey in the first place, but his reaction to the thump was the same, he ran away and didn't try it again. He eventually went to sit nearby, and ignored Mel who was on my husband's shoulder. Of course we would NEVER EVER leave them unattended, as cats are not like dogs and do not function with an understanding of pack dominance and "shouldn't" but rather a "was it fun last time" kind of idea. I have no doubts that he knows he could get the bird if my back was turned. It helps that he is a kitten so we are establishing this early. Rag dolls are pretty well known for being chill and non predatory, right? Mine is just your standard American shorthair, but a rag doll seems ideal from what I know about them. Ours is also not declawed. When we have birds out who are not flighted the cat is absolutely put away. Maybe when he is older that will change, but he has a long way to go to prove that to us!

In my household? You couldn't!

That cat would be tormented!!!

You wouldn't need to protect the birds from the cat. You'd need to protect the cat from the birds!!! Particularly that gray one...

That's a good point, in some families the one who needs protecting isn't the one you would expect!

I have three cats and they are all front declawed. However, one of them - when allowed outside many years ago - brought me a dead bird one day...so I know one of them can kill. (He also brought me a mouse - so I'm glad they can kill.) That's why I won't get a small bird. I feel the Zons are a good size. My cats are all allowed in the room when my Zon is out and so far the Zon hasn't tried to come down off the cage at them. I do watch them and have no intention of leaving them unsupervised. Fortunately for me whenever I have to go to the bathroom all the cats follow me so I don't need to worry about what happens when I have to leave the room. The larger parrots made my cats nervous and mad and they showed me by peeing all over the cages. So far I haven't had that problem with Whisper.

Bottom line - it depends on the parrot and the cat. Right now we seem to be happy.

Dopey said:

I have three cats and they are all front declawed. However, one of them - when allowed outside many years ago - brought me a dead bird one day...so I know one of them can kill.

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Any of them CAN kill...

But the opposite is also true. We actually had a case of an alley cat getting into a house through a doggie door, and going after a B&G macaw!! And we know for a fact the cat was stupid enough to bat at the bird through the cage. How do we know this? The bird bit the cat's paw off. Then the three legged kitty fell up against the bars of the cage, and the Macaw stuck the point of that beak through kitty's throat!!!

So, yeah. Large birds can and will defend themselves...

Lucy, the greenwing, used to treat the cats as a sport. Sneak up behind them and let out that full volume macaw scream...

Kitty went straight up, then did laps around the room half way up the wall...

The bird just laughed and waddled away. Very entertaining. My work is done here...

Funny...but not. :54:

Oh, Lucy would actually hide in the room and then suddenly appear from out of nowhere and scream, just to watch the cat go straight up...

That poor cat was absolutely terrified of her.

She never did anything especially vindictive, like biting. But it's that old thing about macaws will mess with you when they figure out you are afraid of them... and this cat was terrified. So Lucy got to be the big bad birdie... which is really all that was. The big bad birdie game...

Our kitten will occasionally set foot in the bird room, then daddy tiel, Lakota, screams at him, and he comes out of there like a rocket! But he also chases flies and I do believe this cat will be a life long "bedroom when birds are out" cat. We already had systems in place to insure no one gets out the doors (important for all birds, but mine are flighted so it's a bigger risk) and we basically just extended those to include not opening the bedroom door and letting the cat out when the smaller birds are out. And by smaller I mean everyone but Mel right now. Once the breeding season is over and Lady and Sam are back in "pet mode" and interacting with us again, it will include them as well, but for now Mel is the only one big enough to intimidate the cat, and of course we NEVER leave them alone in a room, even for a second.